Plow.



L. E. WATERMAN.

PLOW. APPLICATION FILED APR. 29, I916.

' Patented June12, 1917.

:3? @GP/MM UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS E. WATERMAN, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO EMERSON -BRANTINGHAM COMPANY, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

PLOW.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 1917.

Original application filed December 16, 1915, Serial No. 67,202. Divided and this application filed April 29,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Lnwrs E. \VATERMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rockford, in the county of Winnebago and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Plows, of which the following is a specification. Y

This invention relating to wheeled plows is a division of my application Serial No. 67,202, filed Dec. 16, 1915, and has more particular reference to the means employed for raising and lowering the rear end of the plow-carrying frame.

In plows of this character it is desirable to raise and lower both the front and rear ends of the frame to carry the plows into and out of the ground. The rear end of the frame is raised and lowered upon and with respect to the rear furrow wheel, which, it is desired, shall be automatically char. led from a caster wheel to a fixed whee upon movement of the frame to raised and lowered positions, respectively.

My invention aims, primarily, to provide an improved mounting for the roar furrow wheel whereby the wheel will be automatically and positively locked against castering when the frame is lowered and will be permitted to caster against a resiliently yield-able pressure when the frame is raised. Thus the rear furrow wheel is held rigidly in relation to the plow during the plowing operation so as to hold the plows in line with the draft and effectively resist the side thrust of the plows, but when the plows are raised is permitted to caster against a spring resistance when turning a corner, the resistance being such that the wheel will not swing too freely or easily turn when back ing the plow.

Referring to the drawing Figure 1 is a side view of my improved rear furrow wheel mounting and operating means, attached to a plow-carrying frame, showing the same in raised position;

Fig. 2 is a view of my improvements showing the plow-"carrying frame in lowered position;

Fig. 3 is a. view of the furrow wheel sp1ndle mounting, with the upper cnd thereof in section; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 3.

Since this invention pertains solely to the Serial No. 94,419.

mounting and control of a plow furrow wheel, 1 have deemed it unnecessary to i1lustrate an entire plow and consequently have shown the improvements in connection with only a portion of a plow-carrying frame on beam It should also be understood that while my improvements are designed for use especially in connection with wheeled plows having power lift mechanism for raising the front end of the plow-carrying frame such as described in the above mentioned application, any operating mecha nism maybe employed in place of power lift mechanism.

Referring to the drawing, the rear furrow wheel 6 may be suitably mounted on an inclined axis on a spindle 7 so as to tread in the corner of a furrow as and for a purpose well understood in this art. The upright portion 8 rotatably mounted in a sleeve bracket 9 is held against axial movement therein by means of a collar 11 secured by -a set screw 12 to the upper end of the spindle portion 8 and shaped to fitover an annular flange 13 integral with the upper end of the sleeve bracket 9, as shown in Fig. The collar 11, while permitting rotative movement of the spindle in the sleeve bracket, prevents the spindle from moving longitudinally with respect to the bracket. The bracket is pivotally mounted ad'acent to its lower end at 14 upon a plate 15 olted fixedly to and extending rearwardly from the reafend of the plow beam 5 so as to be capable of rocking backwardly and forwardly on its pivot to raise and lower the iron r furrow wheel with respect to the plow beam. A laterally projecting guide 10 intogral with the sleeve bracket slidably engages the lamlward side of the plate 15 so as to hold the bracket 9 against lateral displace meat. The upper rear edge of the plate 15 is shaped in the form of an arc struck from the center of the pivot bolt 14 so that the guide 16 will cooperatively engage the plate its lower end 19 is disposed intermediate the arms of a forked abutment 21 integral with the bracket 9 and engages the said abutment to hold the bracket 9 and spindle..7 in sub sluntiallv upright position as shown in Fig. .i. rod 22, the forward end of which (not shown) may be attached to a suitable oper} ating mechanism holds the lever 17 in the position shown in Fig. 1. The said rod 22 passes through an eyelet 23 swiveled to the upper end of the lever 17 and is equipped with a set collar 24 that abuts against thesaid eyelet.

When the rod 22 is moved rearwardly, thereby releasing the lever 17, the rear end of the plow frame will be lowered by gravity as the bracket 9 swings from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Fig. 2. This swinging movement of the sleeve 9 is limited by engagement of the collar 11 with the lever 17', the collar being shaped to provide a recess 25 for the reception of the lever 17. Since the walls of the recess 25 engage both sides of the lever 17 and the collar 11 is fixedly secured to the spindle 8, it will beapparent that when the spindle is swung forwardly to the position shown in Fig. 2, it will be positively locked against rotation. Thus when the plow frame is lowered, the rear furrow wheel becomes automatically locked against castcring, so that when the plow is in operation the rear fur row wheel will be held rigidly at the proper angle in the furrow to efl'ectively carry the side thrust from the plow.

When the plows are raised, it is desirable that the rear furrow wheel be permitted to caster, although not too freely, since when moving the plow forwardly and backwardly the rear furrow wheel might caster and swing the plow to one side, this being more apt to occur when backin the plow. To provide against entirely rce castering of the rear furrow wheel, a spring resistance is employed to yieldingly oppose castering movements. The means illustrated for accom lishing this purpose consists of. an arm 26 plvoted at 27 to the rear side of the sleeve bracket 9 and provided at its upper end with a flat forward, face 28 which is urged into engagement with an opposed fiat face 29 formed on the collar 11 by an expansion spring 31, the ends of. which are confined between the outer end of said arm 26 and a nut screwed on a bolt 32 which is connected to the sleeve bracket 9 at 33.-

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that I have provided a very simple and effective means whereby the rear end of a plow frame may be raised and lowered and the rear furrow wheel automatically and positively locked against castering when the rame is lowered and yieldingly held against castering when the frame is raised.

I claim:

1. In a plow, the combination of a plowcarrying frame, a sleeve bracket pivotally mounted on the frame on a horizontally disposed axis, a spindle journalcd in said sleeve bracket so as to caster on an upright axis, a furrow wheel mounted on the lower end of the spindle, a lever pivoted on the frame and cooperable with the sleeve bracket so as to rock the same on its pivot by movement of the lever, and means connected with said spindle adapted to be brought into locking engagement with the lever to prevent rotative movement of the spindle in the sleeve bracket when the frame has been moved to lowered position.

2. In a plow, the combination of a plowcarrying frame, a furrow wheel, means connecting the furrow wheel to the frame so that the furrow wheel may caster about an upright axis and may be moved to raised and lowered positions with respect to the frame, a lever mounted on the frame and cooperating with said means to effect movement of the wheel to said raised and lowered positions, and means operating between the lever and wheel-connecting means for automatically locking the wheel against castering when the wheel has been moved to raised position.

3. In a plow, the combination of a plowcarrying frame, a rear furrow wheel, an upright spindle upon the lower end of which the furrow wheel is mounted, means connecting the spindle to the frame in such manner as to permit the spindle to ,rock backwardly and forwardly on a horizontally disposed axis located intermediate its ends an to allow the wheel to caster about the longitudinal axis of the spindle, a. lever pivoted on the frame and arranged to cooperatc with said means for moving the spindle about said horizontal axis and means operable between the spindle and said lever for locking the spindle to prevent castering when the wheel has been raised with respect to the frame.

4. In a plow, the combination of a plowcarrying frame, an upright sleeve bracket pivotally mounted thereon to swing forwardly and backwardly relatively thereto, a spindle j ournaled in the sleeve bracket, a furrow wheel mounted on the lower end of the spindle, a lever pivoted on the frame and engaging the sleeve bracket for rocking the same on its pivot, means fixed to the spindle for engaging said lever when the furrow wheel'has been moved to raised position with respect to the frame and thereby serving to lock the spindle to prevent castering and for disconnecting from said lever when a spindle journaled in the sleeve bracket, a furrow wheel mounted on the lower end of the spindle, a lever pivoted on the frame and engaging the sleeve bracket for rocking the same on its pivot, means fixed to the spindle for engaging with the lever when the furrow wheel is moved to raised position with respect to the frame whereby to prevent rotative movement of the spindle in its bracket and to be released from said lever when the wheel is lowered, and means cooperating between the bracket and spindle for yieldingly resistin rotative movement of the spindle in the racket.

6. In a plow, the combination of a plowcarrying frame, an upright sleeve bracket pivotally mounted thereon so as to swing forwardly and backwardly with respect thereto, a spindle rotatably mounted in the bracket, a furrow wheel mounted on the lower end of the spindle, a lever pivoted intermediate its ends on the frame, the lever cooperating on one side of its pivot with the bracket to efi'ect said swinging movement thereof by rocking of the lever, and means on the spindle for engaging the lever on the opposite side of its pivot to lock the spindle 1 against rotation.

LEWIS E. WATERMAN. 

